Julian of Norwich, also called Juliana (born 1342, probably Norwich, Norfolk, Eng.—died after 1416) celebrated mystic whose Revelations of Divine Love (or Showings) is generally considered one of the most remarkable documents of medievalreligious experience. She spent the latter part of her life as a recluse at St. Julian’s Church, Norwich.

On May 13, 1373, Julian was healed of a serious illness after experiencing a series of visions of Christ’s suffering and of the Blessed Virgin, about which she wrote two accounts; the second, longer version was composed 20 or 30 years after the first. Unparalleled in English religious literature, Revelations spans the most profound mysteries of the Christian faith—such as the problems of predestination, the foreknowledge of God, and the existence of evil. The clarity and depth of her perception, the precision and accuracy of her theological presentation, and the sincerity and beauty of her expression reveal a mind and personality of exceptional strength and charm. Never beatified, Julian is honoured on the unofficial feast day of May 13. A modern chapel in the Church of St. Julian has been dedicated to her memory. A critical edition in Middle English of both the short and long versions of her account is A Book of Showings to the Anchoress Julian of Norwich, ed. by Edmund Colledge and James Walsh in 2 vol. (1978); Colledge and Walsh also published an English translation, Showings, in the same year.

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...in the style and content of his work. It is of particular interest to note that the mystical tradition was continued into the 15th century, though in very different ways, by two women writers, Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe. Julian, often regarded as the first English woman of letters, underwent a series of mystical experiences in 1373 about which she wrote in her ...

specific experience such as wonder at the infinity of the cosmos, the sense of awe and mystery in the presence of the sacred or holy, feeling of dependence on a divine power or an unseen order, the sense of guilt and anxiety accompanying belief in a divine judgment, or the feeling of peace that...